US & EU Agree: No Time for Public Health, We’ve Got Corporate Interests at Stake Here!
A just leaked draft food trade agreement leaves no question that, as between both the US and Europe, “public health is losing out to corporate interests in a big way.” According to the experts at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), the documents show that public health and food safety are at risk while the public remains clueless.The obscure Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement (see it in the news any time lately?) addresses important ...
Bad Eggs: Even Cynics Find Meat Tactic a New Low
The Washington Post's The Influence Industry column writes about a new lobbying group charged with stopping provisions in the 2012 farm bill to make the egg biz a teeny bit more tolerable (for the birds not the eggs companies).This follows last year's agreement between the the Humane Society and the United Egg Producers, reached after years of enmity, on measures that would (in our humble opinion) only incrementally (at best) improve the lives of the poor hens. [Apparently, they'll ...
Creating At-Risk Kids with At-Risk Foods
The typical image of "at-risk" children is of semi-starved poor children, lacking the basics of life -- shelter, clothing, and medical care. Yet, we are all becoming keenly aware that all of our children are "at risk" of succumbing to the "obesity epidemic." Of course, it's not really an actual epidemic, strictly speaking, but its undeniable that the kids are getting very fat and increasingly unhealthy.We may all scratch our heads and wonder, "How did this happen?" The answer is not ...
Good is Bad? Disinformation and Healthy Food
A news story today asserts that "Healthy Foods Carry Hidden Dangers," pointing out that foods like leafy greens can be dangerous, harboring E.Coli and other nastiness. Listing the top ten foods identified in a study by the Center for Science and the Public Interest, the story ratchets up the food hysteria a bit. One might think that for optimum health, we should just avoid these foods.Unfortunately, the problem is NOT the food... or even our food safety inspection system in the first ...
Keeping Safe By Keeping Track: Animal ID and Food Security
So now that many of us are completely freaked out about eating (if you're not, you must be forgetting your recommended daily dose of media) , let's talk about what is touted as the promise of "hope" on the horizon, keeping us safe by instituting an animal spy system, for our own heath and welfare, of course. It's the National Animal Identification System (NAIS for short). Um... Seems a bit creepy if you ask us.This U.S. "government animal health surveillance" system, which requires regist...
The Organic Connection (For What it’s Worth)
An article in today's New York Times raises a question lots of folks have especially as they are trying to spread their diminishing food budget among growing expenses -- is organic better? The points raised address issues such as inspections and what the USDA Organic seal does and doesn't mean and how private organic certifications entities intersect with issues like food safety and their own continued profits.As we've been explaining for years, just because a food says it's organic doesn't ...
Influence Peddlers and What We Eat
The Washington Post, reporting all things politico, had a story today about our new Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack, formerly Iowa governor. Apparently, he's trying to reassure worried food policy activists, Michael Pollan among them, who think it's going to be agribusiness as usual. Certainly in these times, with accusations of sleeping regulators who allow (even effectively condone) fraud and influence peddlers running amok (isn't that their job?), it's a real worry.The fundamental problem here, ...
What You Don’t Know… GMO and What You Eat
How many of us have ever heard of the Codex Alimentarius?Not many, we suspect. Which is too bad because it affects the food we eat, whether we know it or not. The Codex, simply stated, is an international body that adopts standards, codes of practice, guidelines and other recommendations for all things food-related (labelling, additives, hygeine, pesticides, etc).As it is intimately connected with and its standards are referenced in trade and trade agreements, it can also have the force of ...
Remember to Honor Fertilizer?
There's a clever advertising campaign being pushed these days - NutrientsForLife.Org. Basically, it's all about how important fertilizer is and how the public needs to be reminded about fertilizer because "too many people lack an understanding of crop nutrients and fertilizer." Fertilizer companies are apparently feeling maligned due to "extremist groups," so they wrote into the NutrientsForLife history and mission statement that "enough is enough" They're kicking mad and dammit, you're gonna ...
Consider the Source: COOL Feds in the Act
Amidst all the gloom and doom, including a Wall Street Journal front page report of possible food pricing collusionfor tomatoes and eggs, coming on the heels of dairy and citrus probes (while record food prices are being seen and felt), there is a ray of hope. Starting in a few weeks, September 30, 2008, supermarkets and other big food retailers will have to start labeling certain foods with their country of origin, including meats, produce, nuts and some others -- affectionately referred to as ...
